


What the Women Told Their Children

by Himring



Category: TOLKIEN J. R. R. - Works & Related Fandoms, The Lord of the Rings - J. R. R. Tolkien, The Silmarillion and other histories of Middle-Earth - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: Arnor, Dor-lómin, Drabble, Eriador, Female Protagonist, Gen, Motherhood, POV Female Character, Post-Nirnaeth Arnoediad
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-24
Updated: 2016-01-24
Packaged: 2018-05-15 20:43:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 100
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5799295
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Himring/pseuds/Himring
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In the First Age as in the Third Age, mothers passing on the basics to their children.</p>
            </blockquote>





	What the Women Told Their Children

_Once upon a time, we had a king. Once upon a time, we had a lord. Once upon a time, we served only the king and the lord we had chosen to serve._

_Hide Grandfather's sword in the bedstraw but do not let the blade get blunt, for know this: one day, we shall be free again._

 

Once upon a time we had a city and a kingdom. Once upon a time we had a king.

Do not speak our chief's name to any on the road. Wear a plain cloak, but know this: we shall have a king again.

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the challenge "Endings and Beginnings" at Tolkien Weekly on LJ, for the prompt "Once Upon a Time"
> 
> Copying my response to a comment below, in case it is helpful to others:  
> The people of the First Age are the Edain of Dor-lomin in Beleriand. They were Men who had been ruled by lords of the House of Hador (Hurin was the most famous of these) and fought for the High King of the Noldor Elves against the Dark Lord. After the great defeat of the Fifth Battle, they were enslaved for about a hundred years, until the Dark Lord was defeated in his turn. They are ancestors of the Numenoreans and therefore also of the Dunedain.
> 
> The people of the Third Age are the Rangers of Eriador, concealing the survival and identity of the heir of Isildur over generations.


End file.
